Steven Marrocco of MMAWeekly has the latest on the resignation of Bellator Matchmaker Matt Stansell:
Matt Stansell, matchmaker for tournament-based fight promotion Bellator Fighting Championships, resigned his post on Monday.
Stansell and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said the split was amicable, though Rebney said Tuesday that Stansell stopped working with the company two weeks ago.
“The simplest way to put it is, as companies evolve and grow, sometimes that growth is best for certain parties to stay together and sometimes that growth requires that certain parties split,” Rebney said. “At this point, it wasn’t the right fit as we continue to grow and expand.”
“I just chose to take a different path, that’s all,” said Stansell, who manages several of Bellator’s contract fighters. He declined to elaborate on his reasons for leaving, but said he would continue to work with the promotion on a manager-promotion basis. Stansell’s clients include UFC light heavyweight standout Brandon Vera, WEC lightweight Ed Ratcliff, and Bellator veterans Wilson Reis and Eddie Sanchez.
Payout Perspective:
Since Bellator made their television distribution announcement the MMA world really hasn’t heard a lot from the organization. While the latest news certainly isn’t favourable, it shouldn’t be taken as a serious sign of turmoil either. The organization is far enough away from it’s next season that this matchmaker switch shouldn’t disrupt them too badly.
To me the story getting overlooked is why was Bellator’s match-maker also managing fighters on the Bellator roster?
Ultimately, that may have been the largest issue.
I’ve been a part of organizations before where the promotional management has also had ties with some of its fighters beyond the normal scope of things, and it’s difficult to remain fair and objective.
At what point do you draw the line between representing the best interests of your organization vs. that of your fighter? Because you can’t do both.
Valid issue which was recently addressed by Strikeforce as well. I would say that in this case the tournament format is a major mitigating factor regarding favorable treatment.
Well, on the strikeforce thing…. they named Chou matchmaker, but even he has said that Bob Cook is still in the mix with the book, so …… then you have the problems that Paul Buenetello is having with trainer/former manager Cook because he went with the UFC deal over a Strikeforce offer….
Stansell situation was a bit of a mess all along…. one manager that i spoke with said that Stansell did use his position to have guys go with NCFC …. a fighter was unsigned and consulted with this manager, manager said several items in the contract were ornery, fighter gets told that the items will be more easily worked out if he goes with NCFC, guy signs with NCFC, … the kicker is none of the offending items got changed, leaving the fighter in a crappy situation…
i assume Kelsey is referencing the MFC/Pavelich/Ryan Ford situation, which got a bit sideways towards the end…… Monte Cox is often in a similar situation where is both promoting and managing Fighters… Adrenaline, Extreme Challenge, etc…. he seems to be able to strike a good balance…